Calgary ranked 14th best place to live

MoneySense magazine says Ottawa is #1

A national personal finance magazine ranks Calgary as the 14th best place to live in Canada.

For the third year in a row MoneySense magazine ranked Ottawa at the top, citing its "cultural offerings" and "family-friendly lifestyle" as some of the nation's capital's best attributes.

Canada's Best Places to Live 2012:

Top 10

Ottawa

Burlington, Ont.

Kingston, Ont.

Halifax

Regina

Brandon, Man.

Fredericton

Edmonton

Red Deer

Winnipeg

Source: MoneySense

The rankings considered factors such as climate, ease of travel, affordable housing and population growth. It included 190 Canadian cities and towns with a population of at least 10,000 people and ranked them in 22 categories.

Calgary fared better in a couple of the magazine’s sub-lists, ranking as the third best place to raise kids — behind Strathcona County and Burlington.

Calgary is the fourth best place for jobs in Canada, behind Strathcona County, Red Deer and St. Albert, according to MoneySense.

Wood Buffalo, Alta., was named the wealthiest place in Canada, thanks to the oilsands.

On the overall list, Regina, Red Deer and Halifax each jumped into the top 10, thanks to factors such as low unemployment, high incomes and population growth.

Vancouver dropped to 56th place from 29th, largely because of the high cost of housing, the magazine said.

Montreal dropped to 149th place from 123rd. And Toronto went up to 47th from 88th.

Burlington also took second spot thanks to a low crime rate, high incomes and mild weather.

Last year the Economist Intelligence Unit said Calgary is the fifth most livable city in the world.